Art & Inspiration Who Drives a Beater Hotrod, Car or Truck and Likes it That Way

The guys on Cold War motors get a (Winter beater) A car you drive in the winter and dont care if the salt rust it to pieces. I commonly get a junky truck and fix the brakes and drive it into the ground. Mostly 60 thru 66 Chevys and GMC because I have a large number of them and except for the brakes everything else is fixed with used parts from the Hoard. Usually spend more on Licence and insurance than I have in the vehicle. The 66 GMC I saved from a Rollback headed to the shredder. Had to pay the scrapper $400. Been using it close to 7 years.

 

Might as well revive this thread since I found it while searching for something else..

here’s my beater with fresh rebuild on the engine, new wiring, Rebuilt steering and suspension…

rough AND ready

 

I have some really nice cars and some not so nice. The not so nice cars get driven way more than the show cars and I think are way more fun and less to worry about. who cares if you get an extra character scratch in the daily driver type cars.

the expensive show quality painted cars I grit my teeth everytime I drive them and hope I don't hit a deer seeing they are everywhere out here. Less fun at a show because you need to babysit them. I had 3 damage in one year at different events and I never showed them since that year. If you want to see them now, you can see them when I drive past you on the road. No more just parking them somewhere. Too many jealous people out there.

Yep, I like my beaters better.

 

Original paint, chips, sunburn and rust. "When are you going to paint it?" - "they already did, in 1960!".
It's got brakes, a heater and tunes- What more do you need?

 

Dinks, bumps, scratches- hell, people still open their doors into it at the grocery store. I think they would if it had perfect chrome, straight lines and a twenty grand paint job.
Funnily, most people say they like the way it looks, apparently it looks honest as a car that gets driven but cared for.

I like it a bit cleaner than it is but hey, is what it is. It all works and doesn't break down much, which is the important part.

 

I agree PhilA. I realistically cannot afford to make it perfect and, to be honest, really enjoy the look and feel of it right now. No fear parking it somewhere and it is mechanically sound. I still turn around and look at it when I park it… and I have owned it 49 years.

 

I do!

 

I drive a 51 Merc beater/survivor. Really don't have the funds or skills to restore it back to the way it was.

 

It seems that everyone wants to buy my ‘60 F-100. My usual answer is “I’m not tired of it yet!” My only plans for it is a rewire and to keep the Y block running. I like it the way it is.

 

I'm going to unbeater this some day....

 

Dang skippy

 

My avatar roadster is my beater. It was built in the late 1950's and I see no reason to re-build it now. I am 81 years old and I don't have the money or energy to spend on it. It is in my will to go to my middle son, "dual quad 55" here on the HAMB. He always did any needed mechanical maintenance that the roadster needed. He appreciates the roadster for what it is, a true survivor. My Connecticut license plates are "Old Rod" which I think is fitting. The plates in the picture of my avatar were my antique plates before I got the "Old Rod" plates.

 

This last year. Painting it now. Also had this the year before. Painting it someday.

 

Description not necessary!!

 

I drive my beater year around and daily

 

drive it every day from snow gone till snow falls again in the fall.

 

Some of my best cars were beaters!

 

Same paint & engine about twenty five years. She's 74 and I'm 78 but we are both still going

 

I am not opposed to a super shiny mile deep paint job if the wiring and running gear is done just as well, but I think there has been so much focus put on body and paint people are ignoring chassis and running gear.

I guy here in town just bought a "Professionally restored" 69 Z/28 the car has super shiny paint and everything that can be seen was rebuilt but if it was out of sight it wasn't fixed!
This seems to be a common theme in most of the professionally resorted/built cars I have seen.

The car was close to the one he had in high school, but he want to make a more like his high school car by adding the console.

When he went to install the wiring, he discovered none of the under dash wiring had been replaced which was broken up, original the fuse panel was still in place melted and corroded. The plastic in the dash around the radio knobs was broken. The more he digs into the car the more he finds that was out of sight out of mind.

When I get ready for paint I am using tractor enamel I want it to look nice but paint is not the be all end all as to whether a car is nice or well built.

 

Every car I’ve ever built was built to drive everywhere it goes. I drive to shows all over the Midwest. The main reason I sold my A coupe and built my ‘40 was so we would have more cargo room. I’m on my 3rd set of tires waiting for my 4th set to arrive now. I would guess I have about 45,000 miles on it. They can still be beaters and look nice (the nice part just wears off as you go)
The last 4 years or so I have been trying to ride my bike every single day, so that means, where I go My bike(s) go. I’m currently on day 789 in a row. I wear my bikes out the same as my hot rods. That’s where the fun is at!

 

Very nice looking beater!!!

 

Here are my rougher drivers...




Though all my stuff is a constant work in progress so they start really really rough.... get less rough then end up decent eventually...

Seems like once I put 100,000 or more miles on an old car as a daily driver I blow it all apart and make it nice.

 

My wife and I put just under 1400 miles on the old coupe between Wed and Sun evening, from Freeport IL to Tulsa OK and back. The motor is getting a bit tired with close to 160,000 miles on it, but managed to pull 22.8 mpg over the entire round trip.

All those miles and no pictures, and the camera was right along side of me the whole time, never even thought about taking pic until i was home.

 

First question I’m asked what color you gonna paint it. Your looking at it!

 

I can't post a picture of my beater because of the year but I assure you it bothers other people way more than it bothers me.

 

beater.....is neater

 

I don’t panic in parking lots, the other guys may!

 

@Russco your coupe is badass. . . . And that "big ripper" is a neat bike!

 

Most of my cars have been beaters.I'm still driving beaters and I love 'em. My avatar car is a beater I built from the ground up with basically parts no one else would use. 8-BA , 3 on the floor out of some kind of Ford pickup. A lot of beat up parts from many different years. Many dents and old repairs. Some new parts for the important stuff and some home made parts, etc. I took the thing to a local show last year and it got lots of thumbs up from all the folks that went out of their way to look at it.What fun!!! Oh, it has a hood top I made for it now. Formed it using a tree in the yard and a rubber hammer.